How to open a .scriv file without Scrivener
- Find your project. It is a folder whose name ends in
.scriv, usually in Documents or in a Dropbox folder. A Scrivener backup .zip works as well. - Drop it on the box above. The converter reads the binder, shows your folders and documents with their word counts, and lets you preview any document.
- Choose what to keep and download. The Draft folder is selected for you. Tick research notes or character sheets if you want them too, pick a format, and download.
Convert Scrivener to Word (.docx)
Every text document comes out in the order of your binder, with folder titles as chapter headings. Italics, bold, underline and strikethrough survive, and footnotes, both inline and linked ones, become real Word footnotes. You can add each document's synopsis and notes with one checkbox, and anything you unticked from Compile in Scrivener starts unticked here.
A few things do not come across: images and PDFs in your research, comments, snapshots, and Scrivener's compile settings. The Word file uses a clean layout of its own (Times New Roman, double-spaced, chapters on new pages), so your project's fonts are not copied. If you are about to submit to agents, the manuscript formatter lays out a title page and running header for you.
Why people use this: a Scrivener trial that ran out, a new computer without Scrivener, a project shared by someone else, or a project Scrivener refuses to open. In each case your words are still there in plain RTF files. This tool puts them back in order.
Which format should I pick?
- Word (.docx) to read, print, share or keep editing in Word, Google Docs, Pages or LibreOffice.
- Markdown, one file per chapter to move into another writing app chapter by chapter, with scenes separated by a #.
- Markdown, one file per document to keep every scene separate. The folders match your binder.
- Markdown or plain text, one file for an archive copy that any program can open in fifty years.
Moving from Scrivener to QuillSpace
QuillSpace is a book writing app for Windows and Mac that helps novelists and long-form writers organize a whole manuscript, write in focus, and keep their files on their own computer. Chapters and scenes live in groups and sheets that you drag into place, much like Scrivener's binder, with far fewer settings to learn. It has no generative AI and no cloud.
On a Mac, use File > Import in QuillSpace to bring in the Word or Markdown files, one sheet per file. On Windows, right-click a .md or .txt file, choose Open with and pick QuillSpace. Either way you set up the chapter groups yourself and import chapter by chapter, which takes a few minutes for a whole novel. Windows and Mac are separate apps, purchased separately.
Free to start. Windows and Mac are separate apps, purchased separately.